Justice Insider: Troopers allege man a cocaine bootlegger

These boots were made for smugglin'. An Indianapolis man is facing felony drug charges after a traffic stop last week on I-70 in western Ohio.

Jeb Phillips, The Columbus Dispatch

These boots were made for smugglin’.

An Indianapolis man is facing felony drug charges after a traffic stop last week on I-70 in western Ohio.

Troopers pulled over the man’s eastbound Dodge Charger for speeding in Preble County and noticed “criminal indicators” of drug smuggling, according to a release from the State Highway Patrol.

After a drug-sniffing dog reacted to the car, troopers found $63,000 worth of vacuum-sealed cocaine packed inside two pairs of new boots.

That’s some pricey footwear.

• • •

On the same day that troopers were doing their shoe-leather policing in Preble County, Athens County deputy sheriffs were called to a local towing company.

The owner of Valley View Towing reported that his employees had found what appeared to be drugs in an old Chevrolet Tahoe bought from a Columbus salvage yard. The suspected drugs were wrapped in plastic and tucked inside a larger bag of clothing.

Deputies tested the nearly 2 pounds of white powder for signs of cocaine and heroin. Those tests were negative, but a third test — for methamphetamines — “received an instant positive indication,” the sheriff’s office reported.

Estimated street value: $78,477.

• • •

What happens when you can’t get your kids to wake up and get ready for school? Do you ground them? Take away their allowance? One mother in Licking County didn’t have time for any of that. She went straight to police.

According to an incident report filed with Newark police, Officer Shawn Henry responded to a call at 7:58 a.m. last Tuesday after a woman complained that her 13-year-old daughter was “unruly and refusing to get up and go to school.”

Henry cited the teen under the juvenile unruly code, and she was placed in the Licking County Diversion Program.

• • •

The early-morning police chase and gunbattle in Clintonville on Wednesday caused a stir on the neighborhood’s Facebook crime blog.

The blog, set up last year to let residents know about local crime, was on fire with comments — and criticism.

Some thought the dozens of gunshots were firecrackers. Some crabbed about the noisy TV helicopters overhead and news-media coverage in general. Others complained about getting stuck on side streets because several blocks of N. High Street were closed to through traffic.

The blog’s mediator tried to keep the conversation positive, reminding posters of the bigger picture: that two people were dead and two police officers injured. She urged them to be practical and caring, reminding them to call police if they found a bullet casing and asking for thank-you cards to send to police.

Finally, after two days of mediating, she closed the blog for a day and urged members to “enjoy the quiet.”